Whole Wheat English Muffins

Love the smell of homemade bread? This whole wheat english muffin recipe is a fabulous breakfast or lunch option, one that’s surprisingly easy to prepare. Homemade english muffins have much more flavor than anything you’ll buy at the store, as well as a satisfying, crunchy exterior.

I don’t typically use a lot of bread products. I’m not exactly a low carb gal, but bread has always been a slippery slope for me.

Regardless of whether it’s a fresh artisan loaf from the local bakery or pre-sliced potato bread from the grocery store, if there’s bread around, I find myself eating more of it than I should.

There are two exceptions to this: sprouted ezekiel bread and english muffins. For whatever reason, I don’t feel compelled to binge on either of these.

When I have some extra time, I especially love making english muffins from scratch.

I enjoy making both regular and whole wheat english muffins. The whole wheat version has an added earthiness that I find irresistible with egg sandwiches, for some reason.

There’s just more flavor happening. I don’t use all whole wheat here, and I don’t recommend it. The results are too dense and dry.

Using a mix of all-purpose and whole wheat flour gives me exactly the results I’m seeking.

Cooking these english muffins in a skillet before baking them creates the traditional nook and cranny appearance we’re all used to, but their texture is slightly more dense than supermarket counterparts.

Feel free to play around with the ratio of whole wheat to all-purpose flour. At some point soon I plan to try creating a version of these that uses my sourdough starter instead of yeast. I think that will add even more flavor and lightness.

Baking With Yeast

This recipe uses active dry yeast. Yeast is an ingredient many novice bakers fear, and I’d like to change that! So what is yeast, and how does it work? Can you substitute one variety for another? Check out my article What is Yeast to learn more!

Instructions

In a small saucepan, warm the milk and butter over medium heat until the butter has just melted. Let the milk cool for several minutes until it's lukewarm.

In a stand mixer with the dough attachment, combine the milk and butter with the egg and dry ingredients and mix until the dough comes together. Allow it to mix on medium speed for an additional minute. This can also be accomplished without a stand mixer, by combining the ingredients in a bowl and then kneading the dough briefly.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out to approximately 3/4-inch thickness (they will puff up while cooking). Use a round cutter (approximately 3 3/4 inches) to cut the english muffins, re-rolling the dough as needed. Place the cut dough on a baking sheet dusted with semolina flour or cornmeal. Cover the baking sheet with a towel and allow the dough to rest for a minimum of 20 minutes, up to 90 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Use a nonstick skillet on low heat to cook the muffins for 4-5 minutes per side, until crispy and brown. Finish cooking the muffins in the oven for 15 minutes.

Before serving, fork split and toast the english muffins. These will keep for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container at room temperature, or for several months in the freezer.

Video

Notes

You can certainly use only whole wheat flour, but I don't really recommend it because the texture becomes much more dry. This balance of flour offers a perfect, earthy, whole wheat flavor.

Don't expect the texture and flavor of these to be identical to store-bought English muffins. Those have weird ingredients and preservatives. These are slightly more dense with fewer nooks and crannies, but are much more flavorful.

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Great job on the English muffins – they look terrific. We’ve made them before, and they’re loads of fun. We don’t often have a craving for them, so for us baking English muffins is just a sometimes thing. Our bread we do bake, all the time these days. You’re so right that you can save a bit when you start doing your own baking!

These look AMAZING! Question- do you think they freeze well? I don’t know if I could eat them all before they spoil (don’t fresh baked goods spoil faster than store-bought?) – could I bake and then wrap in plastic and freeze? Need to try this! :)

Hey Molly! You’re the second person to ask and now I really want to know as well. I haven’t tried freezing them but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work, especially if they’re wrapped well to avoid icing. I will try this with the next batch and report back!

I found your blog and recipe on Pinterest. I tried them this morning with a few modifications based on what I had on hand. I used 1% milk, 2 1/2 cups white flour, 2cups wheat, and a 3″ cutter. They came out wonderful! Thanks for sharing this recipe. I’d love to hear if they freeze well and if you perfect the ratio for more nooks and crannies. I’m looking forward to trying them again with a larger cutter.

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